When you are travelling with family or with friends, and you stop at a hotel for night, it is common to check out the literature at the front desk or search the internet for ‘things to do’ at your overnight location. Nearly always, the brochures and the online lists will include a local museum. Observing this brings two questions to mind. First of all, why would a traveler want to visit a museum in another community? And secondly, why did the community think that a museum was an important institution to create, build and care for?

I am reminded of the many conversations we participate in at MHV, with visitors, with supporters and with members of the public. They offer a variety of reasons for participating in the activities, programs and exhibits. We can divide the responses into four broad categories:

  1. Learning and education are common reasons for people to visit a museum. At MHV we plan a new exhibit each year which encourages curiosity about a topic that you may not encounter in your daily conversations or in your news feed. These exhibits inspire people to explore new ideas, and they offer interactive ways of learning for all ages. With 3000 students visiting our museum each year, teachers and parents encourage their students through hands-on experiences and learning in an outdoor environment.
  2. Preserving objects, artefacts and stories about our heritage is another key role for museums. Parents and grandparents are eager to share ‘the way things were’ with their children and grandchildren as they interact with items that remind them of their own experiences growing up. People from other countries and other cultures are curious about how our community began, how it developed, and how our past influences our present-day activities and values. When we learn about our own heritage, we are also able to appreciate other cultures and communities, and museums are a welcoming space for these conversations.
  3. For many people, museums are a gathering place for the community. When MHV hosts community events like Manitoba Day celebrations, Canada Day festivals, Pioneer Days, or Fall on the Farm events, lifelong community members and newcomers join together to eat, to share experiences, and to connect in an atmosphere of history and culture. As we get to know each other better, we are developing a sense of belonging, that this is a community where we are welcome and ‘at home’.
  4. Museums are a place of well-being for many of us. Museums provide a safe, neutral, and welcoming space where people can relax, reflect, and engage with art, with history, and with culture. MHV has the added bonus of being situated on a large acreage with natural features that encourage appreciation for nature. These benefits are experienced by our visitors, as well as by our staff and our volunteers.

Undoubtedly, we can all think of other ways that museums are interesting and important. At MHV we continue to be thankful for the early leaders of our museum who understood the importance of preserving our collective history.

At this time of year, we are busy preparing for another great programming season for our local community, for all the visitors who are planning day trips to various parts of Manitoba, and for those travelers who are passing through the area and want to pause for a few hours to learn more about us while enjoying the natural outdoor setting of MHV. We hope that everyone’s ‘day at the museum’ will be a good one.